Renowned Comic Artist Pe’l Schlechter Passes Away

Luxembourg graphic artist and recipient of the Lëtzebuerger Buchpräis (Luxembourg Book Prize) Pe’l Schlechter has died at the age of 105.

Pe’l Schlechter entered the Lycée des Arts et Métiers in 1937, where he trained as a building technician. The Second World War interrupted this path when he was confronted with the Reich Labour Service and later forced conscription. After 1945, he collaborated with architects Pierre Reuter and Léon Loschetter, for whom he produced plans and drawings for reconstruction projects and church construction. He subsequently worked with architect Pierre Gilbert before founding his own graphic arts studio. In 1972, he joined the team of the Luxembourg International Fair.

His long and prolific career included the creation of countless advertising posters, logos, packaging, postage stamps, medals and jewellery. To his considerable body of artistic work he added a literary dimension through the publication of his autobiographical book De Paul muss an de Krich in 2012, which recounts his experiences during the Second World War. The work was awarded the Lëtzebuerger Buchpräis in 2013.

The Aldermen’s College of the City of Luxembourg (VdL) recently inaugurated an exhibition dedicated to Pe’l Schlechter’s work at the Résidence Grande-Duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte “Konviktsgaart” in Luxembourg-Ville, where the artist resided.